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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
We only have so many exes people...
...and we've pretty much run out. Can we pay you to send us something? Does anyone read this? We need material, people.

Sad Day; (
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 4:20 AM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Friday, May 26, 2006
Get Involved : Support Ms. J in a Suicide Prevention Walk
Today we want to spotlight someone who is doing something particularly positive in this world.
If you are feeling rather bored today, or have a couple bucks burning a hole in your pocket, please consider helping this fascinating grad student on a very good cause.

After you do this, then you can send us the old crap of someone who made you mad today. We can then transform this negative energy into waves of positivity here on the good old Canary Islands (where we are now).

Thank you,

claire and lara...hatetohelp@gmail.com

You can donate at her website. Copy this link into the browser: http://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=10005597

This is her sweet letter:

Dear friends and family,

In July, I'll be participating in a 20-mile, dusk-until-dawn walk in San Francisco to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. All proceeds will be used to fund suicide prevention programs, research and education on suicide and its causes, and efforts to increase access to treatment for at-risk individuals.

Some facts: Suicide is among the top ten leading causes of death in the U.S. (up there with accidents, diabetes, and Alzeimer's disease), and the second leading cause of death among people in their teens and twenties. Every year, 30,000 Americans die by suicide, and 80 million are at risk due to mental illness and/or substance abuse. It would be so great if you could help show support for those who have lost a family member or friend to suicide, and for the millions of others who struggle with suicidal ideation.

In order to participate in this walk, I need to raise at least $1000 (I'm aiming for double). Fortunately, lots of little increments add up to big things. Together, I truly think we can help out this cause.

Your support means so much, thank you to all of you.
--Jocelyn
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 9:00 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Wednesday, May 24, 2006
We Need Your Stuff
We do.

Do you have bad bosses?
Do you have bad friends?
Do you have bad or non-bad exes that you would like to clear the air of?

SEND IT TO US.

We beg of you. Seriously.
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 12:28 AM | Permalink | 2 comments
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Monday, May 22, 2006
Motivational Quote Relevant to this Project
"Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk."

-Travis Bickle: Taxi Driver
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 12:25 AM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Sunday, May 21, 2006
The Concept: Get Rid of It to Get Over It
You know that stuff you keep around long after a relationship has died? You know how thinking about past anger/hurt gets you all riled up all over again?

Well, now there's something to do.

You don't need that crap. But you don't want to throw it out...luckily, everyone in the whole wide world needs it more than you. Look at the elephants...and remember: one ex's trash is some random person's treasure for an hour or so.

So help us help you. Send your crap to us as we travel the world and we will make sure it goes to someone who can use it for something other than pathetic nights of tears. Use us to get rid of the negativity.
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 2:20 AM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006
THING 4: I Was a Book on CRACK
When Julio Cortazar wrote Hopscotch, he must have been on something akin to crack. This is why:

When you read hopscotch, you do not read it in an order in which a normal book would be read. Instead, you start on chapter 73. The next one you read is 1. The next one is 23. Ten chapters later you get to 2. Or something like that.

For this reason alone, this book should be given away.

But the reason we give it away is because an ex of Lara´s gave it to her.

"Read this," he must have said. (Or at least something like that.)

But now it is read, and Lara thinks it carries the aura of him, and so the Granada public library can make do with it what they will.
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 3:55 AM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Monday, May 08, 2006
THING 3: I was a Beloved Sweatshirt
In this post things get a little tricky. Negativity advances, and turns the table.

Up until now, Lara and Claire were batting a thousand...or whatever is the appropriate number. We don't do sports.

It was a standard day in Madrid. Claire had managed to leave bed after the marathon, and they had gone out a-wandering. Madrid is pretty. Museums are pretty. Gardens are pretty. We were pretty in all these places.

We a-wandered for way too long and ended up at a crap cafeteria near our house. We killed 50 minutes waiting for our waitress to bring us a drink meny, and then another 15 waiting for them to come take the order. We ordered food, drink, and settled in.

They brought the wrong food. They poured the wrong drinks. They yelled at Claire in Spanish about the contents of mayonnaise exclaiming that since it was "natural" there were no eggs in it. This made no sense.

In an act of defiance, we decided to walk out on our check. We then pussied out and left 1.89 Euro behind. On an adrenaline high, we rocketed out of there, proud to have stuck it to the evil people.

But then, attempting to disguise myself, I (Lara) realized I had left my favorite sweatshirt with the evil people. What to do? Go back and get yelled at and pay for food we didn't/couldn't eat? Leave it and decrease my year wardrobe by about 18%?

I decided to meditate on it, and realized that karma had acted quickly and clearly. Walk out on check and sweatshirt walks out on you.

In a shocking moment of clarity, however, Claire pointed out that the evil restaurant deserved it, and all knowing karma would know that. So we got over it, went to our favorit pasta restaurant, and decided negative energy had earned its first point.

So:

Negative Energy: 1
Lara, Claire and the Powers of Positive Thinking: 2

Things are close.
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 8:15 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Get Involved ! (Send Us Something)
To send us something from your own ex, or from a bad professor or ex-friend, you can do one of the following:

1. Most countries have a central post office, and a system for holding mail for people who do not have permanent PO boxes there. Thus, you can put a package in the mail to any destination that we might be passing through and we can pick it up.

Here is how to address the package:

Lara and Claire HateToHelp
Poste Restante
Central Post Office
City/State/Province/Whatever
COUNTRY

2. If you are sending a letter sized package (perhaps a photo or keychain), you can send it to any American Express office in any country and they will hold it for us. To find the AmEx office in the country to which you want to send your old crap, visit this site. OR call our friends at American Express (1-800-THE-CARD) to get a list of American Express Travel Services offices in the city and country of your choice.

3. Finally, if international shipping sucks for you, you can send it to our USA PO BOX, where friendly people ship it to us. If you want to send to our US PO BOX please email us for that address at HateToHelp@gmail.com, because we are not going to do things like give out that so personal PO right here.

Cheers! Looking forward to your crap!
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 5:57 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Sunday, May 07, 2006
THING 2: I was a Salmon? Pink? Shirt
Claire ran the Marathon in Madrid during our trip because she is cool, hard core and a spanish-o-phile (this is not a real word).

To the race, she wore a final garment from her ex-boyfriend that she shed before beginning to run. Lara wore the shirt around a while (Madrid was strangely cold), but when she saw Claire cross the finish line, the shirt went on top of a trash can a la India food person since there was no one appropriately needy about.

And Bam!

Claire was rid of her previous title as "lazy person" and a negative-energy-infested boyfriend memory trap all in one go.

Scoreboard:

Negative Energy: 0
Claire and Lara fighting for positivity everywhere: 2
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 8:01 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
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Saturday, May 06, 2006
THING 1: I was Cheesy-Love Propaganda
There was a bad book about love that we read when coming across the Atlantic. In reality, Lara was the only one that read it, because Claire couldn't finish it. Because it was that bad. It had a name like, "I Sound Totally Different Than I Am Becuase I Am THAT Sappy" or some such crap.

Claire finally put it down for the 18 millionth time, unwilling to go on because the negative energy the book was sending off was too much. We needed to let go of the book in a powerful way that extended global loving feelings. What to do? Lara said.

We were sitting there on the top deck of our cruise ship tanning. Claire and Lara locked eyes from their plastic chaise lounges. Claire was on page 123. She raised her arm and hurled the book overboard.

They raced to the railing to look overboard, but the book had already disappeared. It wasn't even heavy or anything. It must have gone to a lower deck. We figure that a book falling into your lap from the sky automatically makes the book seem like a good thing.

It was the first time she had littered in 3 years (she thinks). The new trip had begun with a bang.

We immediately realized that we could leave a trail behind us...not of litter, but of energy conversion. The call was clear. And we answered. It was just us on the other end, though.

Negative Energy: 0
Lara Claire and Positivity: 1
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 6:21 PM | Permalink | 2 comments
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Friday, May 05, 2006
Claire Gets Proactive
In Buenos Aires in the fall of 2005, the project takes a new turn when recently cooked edible goods jump on board. It is not that they jump in, per say, but that Claire cooks them, her sister doesn´t eat them, and then Claire puts them on the street.

Claire tells us that they weren´t bad, it´s just that she didn´t want them. And there are hungry people, and she sometimes remembers to put forks in the bags. So, really, it´s a good thing.
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 10:12 PM | Permalink | 1 comments
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Thursday, May 04, 2006
The Idea Helps People...via Claire
In India in July of 2005, we are eating food at restaurants with large groups of International people and no one finishes everything. Or at least sometimes they don´t. So we begin a crusade of getting things wrapped up for take out and giving them to people who are explicitly begging (guessing is a bad idea if you are wrong) and/or leaving them outside and thinking that someone who might be hungry might want to eat it.

Now, this wasn´t Claire´s idea. The genesis of the food angle really came years ago, when Claire was eating dinner with one of her friend in Berkeley. It was Indian food, and there was too much, but Claire was not going to wrap it up mostly because she forgot about it. But her friend got her´s wrapped up, and when they walked outside to the car she left it on top of a trashcan.

"What are you doing?" Claire asked, because that is what one would think one would ask at this point in the story.

The answer was that she was leaving it outside because maybe someone looking in the trash would want it. And this way they wouldn´t have to root through things.

POINT OF STORY/IDEA: Someone should have a job getting all the leftovers from restaurants and cafes and bringing them to a central location within a given area to feed people. We are sure this exists many times over.
 
posted by Claire and Lara at 9:59 PM | Permalink | 0 comments